Kippered

Well, Galloway has been suspended for 18 days from the House of Commons.

The Parliamentary Standards Committee has said what I have been saying for years - his corrruption was not of a personal nature (no matter how much he blusters that he's been "cleared" of taking a penny) - he took Iraqi oil money for a purpose that has furthered his political career.

57. Given the overall scale of the Mariam Appeal and Mr Galloway's acknowledgement that it was a political campaign, we do not accept his assertion that "the Mariam Appeal in no way supported my role as a Member".[107] On the question of non-registration, we agree with the Commissioner that, given Mr Galloway's central role in managing and directing the Mariam Appeal, he should have registered it and also all donations it received above the threshold.[108]
[...]
68. As we have demonstrated in this report, we agree with the Commissioner that there is strong circumstantial evidence that the Oil for Food Programme was used by the Iraqi government, with Mr Galloway's connivance, to fund the campaigning activities of the Mariam Appeal. In acting as he did, Mr Galloway breached the advocacy rule and damaged the reputation of the House. We believe he was complicit in the concealment of the true source of the funds for the Mariam Appeal. He was also in our view reckless in the terms of the authority he gave Mr Fawaz Zureikat to act in his name in relation to the Mariam Appeal. Further he was clearly irresponsible in refusing to enquire into the source of Mr Zureikat's substantial donations. His obligations to the House under the advocacy rule required nothing less, given the dependence of the Appeal at that point on those donations.

The monies Galloway has corruptly taken and profited from are his MP's salary, which he still has thanks to his profile generated through the Mariam Appeal.

I say without fear of contradiction: George Galloway is corrupt and corrupting of political institutions and public life - a pox on his leftist acolytes.

Questions, M'lud

The hunting of the snark continues.

Greg Palast, he of uncovering serious polling Fraud in Florida back in 2000, has laid into George Galloway.

Now, I personally would not accuse Galloway of personal corruption - as some interesting gents noted t'other day in conversation, our ruling class doesn't understand any sort of corruption other than the sort that lines one's pockets handsomely. They don't understand being politically corrupt: engaging in debased and corupting political relationships for genuine reasons (however mistaken) or merely for personal glory.

The workers movement has always struggled to keep sticky fingers from the till, and to make its accounts clearer and more available and accountable than the really corrupt capitalist class.

It's peturbing, then, that when I have raised the fact that neither Respect nor the Scottish Socialist Party have managed to submit their annual audited accounts for 2004 to the Electoral Commission - even after being granted an extended deadline - the membership of those organisations, including the SSP's official press spokesperson, Eddie Truman, have appeared unconcerned.

This is not about petty regulation compliance, this is about asking a good question: why cannot Respect or the SSP put together something as simple as a workable annual account 9 months into the following year? How can such an organisation be held to account?

Now, we do know from the public record, that george Galloway is named as donating substantial sums to Respect. £ 5,029.17 back in 2004, alongside £6,000 value for a battle bus from a company he has a stake in.

This story is developing, I'll be keeping a beady eye out.